Mehmet Hakkı Suçin
Abstract
This article examines the period from the eighth to the tenth century that can be described as the “golden age” of the Arabic translation tradition. It considers the intellectual ground laid by pre-Islamic centres of learning such as Alexandria, Edessa (Urfa), Nisibis, al-Hira, Gundishapur, Harran and Merv, and the political, social and economic conditions that enabled translation to become institutionalized under the Umayyads and, above all, the Abbasids.
The article assesses the support given to the translation movement by caliphs, officials, scholars and powerful families; the nature of the works translated; transfers from Syriac, Greek and Persian; translation teams; and the leading translators of the period. Drawing on the examples of Hunayn ibn Ishaq, al-Jahiz and al-Safadi, it shows that the translation thought of the period made important contributions to questions that contemporary translation studies still debate, such as translatability, subject-matter expertise, cultural difference, and the translation of poetry and sacred texts.
Keywords: Arabic translation tradition · history of translation · Abbasid translation movement · Umayyads · Abbasids · Bayt al-Hikma · Hunayn ibn Ishaq · al-Jahiz · Syriac · Greek · translation studies
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Cite this work
Chicago
Suçin, Mehmet Hakkı. “Arapça Çeviri Geleneği: Altın Dönem” [The Arabic Translation Tradition: The Golden Age]. Journal of Turkish Studies / Türklük Bilgisi Araştırmaları 33, no. 2 (2009): 111–138.
APA
Suçin, M. H. (2009). Arapça çeviri geleneği: Altın dönem [The Arabic translation tradition: The golden age]. Journal of Turkish Studies / Türklük Bilgisi Araştırmaları, 33(2), 111–138.
Publication details
Journal of Turkish Studies / Türklük Bilgisi Araştırmaları
Volume / issue: 33/II
Special issue: Cem Dilçin Armağanı II / Festschrift in Honor of Cem Dilçin II
Edited by: Zehra Toska
Publisher: Harvard University, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
Place: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Year: 2009
Pages: 111–138
Type: Peer-reviewed research article
Language of the text: Turkish